confidence building?

[calbear707]

hello all,

This is my first post on here. I have a 8 month old male presa. Let me tell you he is like no other dog i have ever had. Let me tell you a little about him. He is reverse brindle in color, un-altered, about 95lbs, high prey drive(loves casing birds, squirrels)no ball drive at all, no play drive with me, loves playing with my 8 month old German shepherd, great in the house very calm, on the lease he is very good(will walk with loose lease), sacred of frogs, loud noises, cardboard boxes that are flat on the ground, a kids bike on its side. Just very random things will spoke him. Also will let you know he has an extra incisors in the very front so he has 7 on the top. All the rest of his teeth look small especially compared to my German shepherd. What im thinking is that the breeder i got him from is doing some line breeding or in-breeding. so my question is, is there a way i could build up his confidence so that random things aren't spooking him while i am walking him?

Also info on how to post pics.

 

[Mooshi's Mummy]

Welcome. My advise would be to take it slow and let him approach at his own pace, once he is brave you reward. For example when Mooshi was a pup I was at the in-laws with her and they had a balloon in their living room that Moo decided was going to kill her, she hated it! My MIL was going to put it away but instead I sat with Mooshi on the floor, quietly not speaking and slowly brought the floating balloon down to her level so she could investigate it, which she did. When she did she got praise and a reward, now she no longer has a fear of balloons. So if there is a box on the floor my advise would to be stand there, quietly, looking at it. If you can touch it yourself, or sit on it with the dog at arms length even better. When he decides to be brave and check it out slowly and quietly praise, happy voice, reward etc.

 

[DennasMom]

I agree with MM - take it slow and let the dog investigate at their own pace... be very patient, and reward for good, calm, curious behavior.

When Denna was younger, she was afraid of dogs barking at us when we were out walking... she wanted to FLEE!
I identified her distance threshold, before she would start reacting... and as we came up on known barking houses, I would start far away with feeding her treats just for walking with me... that kept her focus on me and on the treats... as soon as we heard barking, we would stop and sit... once she was calm, I would have her 'look at me' - and get a reward.

Eventually, she learned that when we got barked at, she should look at me - and I would praise her for sticking with me and not trying to flee...
Now, she tends to look at the barking dogs like they're crazy insane, and not worth her trouble. and she doesn't try to run, at all.

If she skitters away from something on our walks - like a flapping banner or flag - I stop short, call her back to me, and we walk back around it again... I calmly ask her what it was that she saw... and once we identify it, I'll go touch it myself, then have her come to me - at her own pace - she'll eventually come to me, and if I'm close to the scary object, she'll either ignore it, or if I touch it and/or hold it for her, she'll sniff at it... at which point she gets lots of calm praise. We sometimes reward with some jumping/running and or a game of tug, too. Just to 'shake off' the incident and move forward again.

Enough repetitions of stop/check-it-out/praise for all sorts of new and different stuff, and your pup will get the picture that new stuff is not so scary... just in need of sniffing out!

Please do post pics!
Click on the 3rd icon in form the right, kinda looks like a picture in a frame (if you hover over it, it says 'image'), that will let you upload pictures, or point to a URL for one already online.

 

[calbear707]

these are of him and my german shepherd. his name is Thor. thank you both for the advice. what you both say, is what i have been trying to do just taking everything very slow with him. it seems to work for about a couple of weeks then he goes back to his old self. any advice on how i could get him to play with me with his toys? thank you both again.

-Dean

 

[Hector]

If he has strong prey drive, then build a flirt pole and use it on him. Does he not like to play tug? You can try playing recall games and chase him and then turn around and get him to chase you.

 

[CeeCee]

Good looking pups.

I agree with everything DM and MM said. I've been working to help my boy build his confidence and I was reading a book about calming signals that dogs use with one another. One of the calming signals they use to let each other know that all is well is yawning.

When Zeek is nervous, I go slow and let him figure it out, but he will also usually look to me for direction or to see my reaction to the entity. I give a small yawn and half closed eyes (like I'm bored) and it seems to take his nervousness/anxiety down a notch or two.

My boy gives big exaggerated yawns as a stress release so I am careful not to do big yawns - just small, bored yawns.

 

[calbear707]

so i just google about a flirt pole and i am defiantly going make one of these this weekend lol. but no he doesnt like to play tug wont chase a ball. i can get him to chase me after i chase him. so maybe i will just have to keep trying different thing to get him to play.


-Dean

 

[Sue42576]

Beautiful boy!

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[cinnamon roll]

Welcome to the forum. Beautiful pups you have.

 

[Hector]

so i just google about a flirt pole and i am defiantly going make one of these this weekend lol. but no he doesnt like to play tug wont chase a ball. i can get him to chase me after i chase him. so maybe i will just have to keep trying different thing to get him to play.


-Dean

Is your dog food motivated? Have you tried marker training? Recall games are great. Train the "come" and train the "here" (hand target). It's great fun.

 

[hulksm4sh]

I have been trying to research the teeth on my Presa as well. They are like cat teeth. They are very pointy, spaced, and extremely sharp for adult teeth. They look just like my wife's cat's teeth. All I can say is you are not alone, and hopefully we figure it out. I'm new to Presa's as well.

As far as confidence, let him build it slowly as mentioned above. Mine likes to have a stand off with a camp chair moving in the wind. His tail is up and curled, it is wagging, his ears are alert. He isn't scared, but he is jumpy. He is figuring it out. The wind moves it, he barks, it moves.....he thinks he made it react to his bark. Little by little he figures it out, and relaxes and gets so excited that he fended off the chair in the yard. Cardboard boxes are similar. They feel weird, they don't react, they make funny sounds when you hit it with your tail or paw. It is an imposing shape. He will figure it out. Play around things with him. Open other side and let him go through for a treat. If it is no big deal to you, it should be no big deal to him.

Let him win at things. You control the toys, but let him play tug and win it after a while. As he learns he can win and own things and prance, he will build confidence.

My two cents.